Honig Vs Doe Case Study

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Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 108 S. Ct. 592, 98 L. Ed. 2d 686 (1988).
Facts: The Louise Lombard School is a developmental center for disabled children in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). It is here that seventeen-year-old John Doe, an emotionally-disturbed student assaulted another student. According to his April 1980 IEP, Doe had several goals set for coping with frustrating situations and relating to his peers. During the incident in November, Doe reacted to the taunts of other students by choking another student and leaving abrasions on the child’s neck. While being escorted to the principal’s office, Doe also kicked out a school window. The principal suspended Doe for five days. During his suspension, the Student Placement …show more content…

His February 1980 IEP claimed Smith was easily distracted, anxious and impulsive. It was proposed Smith be placed on a trial basis of a half day schedule. The following year when assigned to a full-day program, Smith started having misbehavior issues. The school met with the grandparents (guardians) and it was agreed to reduce Smith’s attendance to half-days with the warning that if his behavior continued, he would be expelled. In November, Smith was suspended for five days after lewd comments were made to another student. The SPC, similar to Doe’s case, extended the suspension indefinitely. Late November, it was protested the actions were almost identical to Doe’s and Smith was allowed to return to the half-day program at A.P. …show more content…

The proposed expulsions and suspensions from their disability behaviors deprived them of their right to a free and appropriate public education in accordance to the EHA. The Judge ordered the school district from making other disciplinary acts other than a two-to-five-day suspension against any disabled child for disability-related behaviors and ensured that the “stay-put” provision would be in place and no student would be removed. This went to the Ninth-Circuit appeal where the previous decision was affirmed and modified to allow up to a ten-day suspension.
Bill Honig, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, requested a review of the Court of Appeals claiming that the stay-put provision conflicted with other appeals that had recognized a dangerous exception and that the directives put on school officials were burdensome and prevented school officials from removing potentially dangerous situations. Honig appealed for a rewrite of the

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